Painting with Plants!

by Betsy Hathaway

Having an interest in herbalism and living in an urban area can feel puzzling at times, when you’re not necessarily able to walk out your front door and feel safe picking and eating plants, possibly due to heavy metals in the soil, or pesticides and poisons used on plants and animals. One day in the springtime I decided to make some watercolor paints out of various flowers that I picked in my yard. I found that it was worthwhile and fun to find ways to interact with the plants in my immediate vicinity without ingesting them.

1. Gather flowers or plants of like minded color in small heat resistant bowls or jars, I made three batches: purple, red and yellow
2. Spend some time separating the flowers from leaves/stems, anything that isn’t the color you’re trying to create
3. Pour just a little bit of boiling water over the flowers, not even enough to cover the flowers fully
4. Let sit for 10-15 min
5. Mash the mixture with any kitchen tools to extract more color and create a pulp (putting the mixture in a blender would also work)
6. Grab another heat resistant bowl or jar and a fine mesh strainer, pour the pulp into the strainer and press down to get all the water out
7. Let the colors sit and cool down
8. You’re ready to paint!

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This post was originally published in the Greenspell 'Greencurrents' Zine

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